Premios Gràffica 2010
“The work of Edward is an important evolution in social reportage photography. To see weddings from a cinematic point of view, to try to transmit the different atmospheres and their attributes, as well as the characters of those attending is a declaration of intentions.
To see where no-one sees, to observe what the rest of us don’t see or to see it in a different way.”
Edward Olive

Photography awards

2012 Ganador del concurso de fotografía de bodegones The New Camera Still Life Photo Contest

2012 Ganador del concurso de fotografía de retratos The New Camera People & Portrait Photo Contest

2011 3rd place winner in the ephotoawards.com art photography competition “Color Awards 2011”
2011 Special Mention of the Juror in The Worldwide Photography Gala Awards (WPGA) The Beauty Around Us Contest

2010 nominated for the Premios Gràffica 2010
“The work of Edward is an important evolution in social reportage photography. To see weddings from a cinematic point of view, to try to transmit the different atmospheres and their attributes, as well as the characters of those attending is a declaration of intentions.
To see where no-one sees, to observe what the rest of us don’t see or to see it in a different way.”
2010 1st prize as Fantasy Photographer of the Year by the Global Photo Awards
1st Place - Fantasy Outstanding Achievement award and the title of Fantasy Photographer of the Year is given to the photographer whose single image is judged to be the most striking photo entered.

2010 - Telegraph.co.uk Daily Telegraph Photo competition: Sunshine was won by Edward Olive with his picture of poppies in Tuscany entitled “Composition in reds and browns” taken from his book of flower photography entitled “Seasons” edited by Citypulse in Santiago de Chile

2009 - one of ten finalists in the Wedding Social category of the Hasselblad Masters Competition. The Hasselblad Masters Award is the most prestigious awards in the industry.

2009 – First prize of the Jury of PHE PHotoEspaña in their competition "Otoño al aire libre"

Seasons evokes a photographic journey through the times of the year. From the first outbreaks and shades that bloom spring passing by the light and heat of the summer trough the cold darkness that strips the trees in fall and winter. The appetite for experimentation has led Edward Olive to achieve new dimensions in the artistic description of urban spaces, transforming a simple glimpse of nature in a work of art.

2009 – “Private collection”

A private collection of the work of Edward Olive. Exclusively fine art female nudes and erotica, moments of intimacy in public and private, flashes of female sensuality taken in hotel rooms at night, private residences, public parks, beaches, lifts or wherever. Shot mainly on medium format film - color, black and white, negative & slide using the Hasselblad 500cm and Carl Zeiss t* lenses. Also used: 35mm compact and reflex cameras and the panoramic Hasselblad xpan. Shot exclusively using available light, without the use flashes or studio lighting. Available for online purchase from http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1096026Book & CD covers

Edward Olive is a Fine Art, wedding & portrait photographer based out of Madrid, Spain.
Edward Olive was a commercial litigation lawyer in London & Paris until throwing in the towel to pursue his more artistic interests. Edward got into photography by chance only in 2005 when he purchased his first camera, an entry level digital reflex Canon 350d to shoot his own actor’s book on a tripod with remote control. Finding he enjoyed the experience he started shooting actor and musician friends and the people living and working in his neighborhood Chueca (Central Madrid’s equivalent of Soho or Le Marais).
Dissatisfied with the focused perfection of modern digital images and seeking an alternative look for his pictures he started adapting analog lenses (he extracted from broken old cameras with a large metal hammer we understand) onto his digital reflex using masking tape and built DIY lighting from microphone stands, disco lights and Kelvin correction gelatin discarded by technicians on his acting jobs.
In autumn 2006 he bought his first film camera, a 1980’s Russian point-and-shoot (a cult Lomo LCA) using some very expired color film they were throwing out of the local photography store. Delighted with the dreamlike qualities and vintage colors, he hasn’t looked back. He continues to shoot almost exclusively analog cameras, still preferring the oldest expired film he can find, shunning the contemporary digital post-produced Photoshop look of current commercial and fashion photography, in favor of the grittier, earthier, unpredictability of expired film whether color negative, slides, black & white or Polaroid type instant film. Edward freely admits that it wasn’t until he bought his first Hasselblad in 2007 (the classic V series 500c/m with Carl Zeiss lenses) that he really found his instrument of choice. He still uses other cameras for reasons of variety, speed, ultra fast lenses or the discretion and convenience of a 35mm compact camera but takes a pair of V series Hasselblad 6×6 cameras, Mamiya M645 1000s and wheelie bag loaded with 120 & 220 film backs and inserts, as he says, when he really means business.
Edward’s pictures range from street photography to nudes, often combining his location wedding travel to shoot personal projects inspired by the new places and people, admitting he still takes more photos for himself just for fun than he does to try and sell later to clients, taking some consolation from the new ideas that come from expression, reinvention and experimentation, free from any commercial pressures, that can later be applied at work to put food on the table. Edward aims to project in his work the contrasts and contradictions that exist within him and within people in general. He wears Italian silk suits to work but takes some shots that step out of line. He uses perhaps the world’s best cameras and lenses yet feeds at times them with the worst Chinese made “black & white” film that has in reality neither black nor white dreamy red blurred images. A combination of the perfect public image and internal private thoughts that combine to make up the people we are, conforming and breaking society’s norms. His aim is to one day attain the vocal control of Pavarotti yet to turn it on its head “Sex Pistols style” refusing to sing correct notes.
Ironically Edward has said from his earliest years he never wanted to get married himself, even admitting that just seeing the grooms standing at the front of the cathedrals with everyone looking gave him a cold sweat until photographic matters got him back to thinking shutter speeds on the little kids running around at the back of the congregation and the inadvertent rising up of female guests’ dresses. Recently there has been a slight softening of his hard line, stating that if he ever did get hitched it would be as Elvis in Las Vegas with the bride as Marilyn on YouTube with only one photo taken, preferably of the bride and preferably without all her clothes, which would be the role of the only guest.
Artistically Edward lists influences that include Patrick Demarchelier, Jean Loup Sieff, Guy Bourdin, Jane Bown, Nigel Parry, Norman Parkinson, Cecil Beaton, John Deakin, David Bailey, Brian Duffy, Terence Donovan, Terry O’Neill…. However he feels that more important than seeking same medium influences are other sources of inspiration whether other artistic media such as music, literature, dance o quite simply the world you live in.

New for 2013

• Analog will be available in handmade darkroom enlargements produced personally and manually by the photographer in sizes 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in) 24 x 30.5cm (9½ x 12in) 30.5 x 40.6cm (12 x 16in) 40.6 x 50.8cm (16 x 20in) 50.8 x 61cm (20 x 24in) limited to 5-10 enlargements per negative (depending on picture), signed and numbered personally by the photographer using Sakura archival quality pen accompanied by signed and dated certificate of authenticity which may include technical note.
• Pictures produced from analog film negatives will not be delivered in high resolution scan files and but in authentic handmade darkroom enlargements produced personally and manually by the photographer in his own darkroom developing by hand 35mm and medium format film in various film developers employing a system of Paterson development tanks and using a professional 35mm and medium format enlarger producing images on professional and fine art photographic papers purchased, or produced by the photographer using hand painted emulsions. The image production laboratory system is based on the use of up to 5 chemical trays or Nova darkroom fiber based print processor on special fiber based paper frames and professional German-made enlarger Kaiser 6005 fited with the finest high level professional German-made enlarging lenses available including Schneider-Kreuznach APO Componon 50mm f2.8 multi-coated and Rodenstock APO Rodagon HM multi-coated 45mm for 35mm film and Rodenstock Rodagon WA 60mm and Rodenstock APO Rodagon N 80mm for 645 and 6x6 images and Rodenstock Rodagon 105mm f5.6 for 6x7 and 6x9. A hand made professional archival museum standard fine art fiber based paper grade print washer imported especially from England is used with washing periods of up to 1 ½ hours per print. Prints are individually, manually and personally judged and calibrated by the photographer using a system of test strip prints, contrast filters, graduated or multi-grade paper and may include original physical darkroom techniques such as cyanotype, lith prints, tinting and toning, textures, layered negatives, pushing and pulling, double exposures etc. according to the necessities and possibilities of each negative. Papers may include Ilford MULTIGRADE IV FB Fiber 255g/m², BERGGER Prestige "CB" VC FB, BERGGER Prestige "CM" VC FB, Bergger Prestige Fine Art Portrait, Oriental New Seagull Select VC-FB WARMTONE, Rollei Vintage 128, ADOX MCC110 FB VC (Gloss), Fomatone MG Classic 132, Fomatone MG Classic 532 II NATURE, Fomatone MG Classic 132, Fomatone MG Classic Chamois 542 II, Fomatone MG 332 MATE WARMTONE, Fomabrom Variant 112 (matte), Kentmere FINEPRINT VC FB (Gloss), Varycon VC FB, Ilford MULTIGRADE IV RC, ILFORD MULTIGRADE IV RC Portfolio and RC Gallery papers, cooltone o warmtone, FB 100% natural cotton fiber, MG double weight fine art papers.
• For VIP clients who wish to contract the production of a series of art gallery level prints in a limited number of pictures, these can be produced at a price per picture which may vary according to the number contracted. Genuine fine art analog pictures are generally produced for VIP clients and the photographer may use a number of his classic cameras including Hasselblad V series and Mamiya 645 in formats 645 6x6 and 4.5x4.5 y Mamiya 645 and “35mm medium format” Hasselblad Xpan Panoramic pictures. It is to be stressed that analog photos are of a high artistic content and can include film grain, paper textures, sloppy borders, film edge, chassis edge, brush strokes from application of emulsion by hand, signs of washing and drying by hand and other elements related to their hand-made nature. These pictures have been finished to archival quality but should be stored in a sensible and appropriate manner which will include not placing them in direct sunlight, excesses of temperature or humidity and that any mounting or framing materials that come into direct contact with the photo should be acid-free. The fine art fiber based prints have received archival standard washing, natural air drying on professional fiber drying screens and pressing in a press between acid-free blotting paper during minimum 24 hours but sensible measures should be taken to maintain the flatness of the photo including not rolling it too tight in transportation tubes and mounting it professionally in a way that helps to maintain flatness.
• Digital cameras with full frame sensors, high ISO capabilities and super-fast f1.2 lenses allow the photographer to obtain photos without the use of lighting, flashes or strobes and thus the capture of natural real looking shots. In the case of analog photography low ISO films may be used and fairly slow lenses particularly in the case of medium format wide angle or tele lenses. The photographer may compensate for this by the use of between 1 and 8 separate sources of continuous light, CFL or tungsten or flash heads or strobes fired simultaneously by radios. This has its advantages and disadvantages. The photographer will take what he considers in his opinion to be the best artistic and photojournalistic decisions.
• If analog color pictures are produced during the photography session they may be produced by hand by the photographer using C41 processing for color negatives and Xpro cross processed slde transparencies or E6 technology for slide film available in hand made prints produced by the photographer on Kodak Supra Endura or Fuji Crystal Archive paper using Tetanol and Kodak RA-4 chemistry